Bags with coupons get people shopping locally

Teaneck Suburbanite

Some Teaneck residents remember a thriving Cedar Lane in the "good old days". Hackensack's Main Street and other neighboring communities were exciting shopping districts, too. The stores were flourishing and selections were seemingly endless. And the place to meet and greet neighbors and friends was called "downtown" or "the Lane".

Cedar Lane, like many other downtown areas, still has a unique blend of merchants, but the like so many "downtown" areas, they are just not the same.

On Teaneck's Cedar Lane, a group of 11 friendly business owners got together to discuss what could be done.

After much discussion of process, costs and identifying demographics and abilities, this cadre of business owners decided to create a "hand crafted" shopping bag, adorned with stickers from participating merchants and stuffed with value coupons. The stickers all centered around a large information notice that described the promotion that allowed customers a 15 percent discount to whatever could be fit into the bag.

Leanna Halbrecht, the owner of Animations, identified an organization called 3-5-0 that outlines the impact of shopping locally. Flyers were produced and inserted into the bags that outlined the advantage to the community for shopping close to home.

The wheels were then set in motion to produce stickers and coupons, purchase shopping bags and recruit the needed help to put all of these pieces together.

Assembly lines were created and all involved took their turn stuffing and labeling the shopping bags. For the better part of a week, one could walk into the Berkshire Bank, Gabrieli Fine Art and Judaica, Sciarra Salon, Smokey Joes Barbeque or the Teaneck General Store and see the massive effort underway.

Children and grandchildren of shop owners and employees also helped assemble the promotional bags. The cohesive effort was impressive and all participants in the process were proud of their efforts.

Volunteers from the Teaneck General Store, including Eva Liebmann, Yvette Oppenheim and Yosifa Book, as well as Joe Godin from Smokey Joes and school volunteers coordinated the effort to deliver the bags, completing the project.

A few customers who stopped in for coffee at the Teaneck General Store even offered to help deliver bags when they learned about the ambitious project. Most refused remuneration and some, like YU student, Noam Tokayer, were happy to "just help out".

Several area schools were contacted and Torah Academy of Bergen County and Yavneh Academy appealed to students in this project to sort and deliver sticker clad and coupon filled bags. Joshi Hanfling, Joey Katz from TABC, and Talya Wimpfheimer, Ozzie Wimpfheimer and Ilan Wimpfheimer, from Yavneh, Gavi, Meira, AJ, Ben and Eitan Book, Danit Forman and Amitai Glicksman, of Yeshivat Noam, all helped to bring the project to fruition.

Yossie Markovik, co-owner of Ma'adan and former IRS forensic accountant, helped tabulate the final accounting for the project.

Finally the bags were delivered and the response was positive and enthusiastic.

The results were well beyond expectations. Excitement was generated, as well as sales and shoppers were seen carrying their bags until the last day of the promotion. Stores all reported a spike in activity.

The synergy, creativity, and the sense of community that was able to produce a very positive effort and result.

Between packing, delivering, and schlepping, all enjoyed the camaraderie and result that this initiative brought the merchants and residents together to try to bring business back the downtown area of Cedar Lane.

Bags with coupons get people shopping locally

Teaneck Suburbanite

Some Teaneck residents remember a thriving Cedar Lane in the "good old days". Hackensack's Main Street and other neighboring communities were exciting shopping districts, too. The stores were flourishing and selections were seemingly endless. And the place to meet and greet neighbors and friends was called "downtown" or "the Lane".

Cedar Lane, like many other downtown areas, still has a unique blend of merchants, but the like so many "downtown" areas, they are just not the same.

On Teaneck's Cedar Lane, a group of 11 friendly business owners got together to discuss what could be done.

After much discussion of process, costs and identifying demographics and abilities, this cadre of business owners decided to create a "hand crafted" shopping bag, adorned with stickers from participating merchants and stuffed with value coupons. The stickers all centered around a large information notice that described the promotion that allowed customers a 15 percent discount to whatever could be fit into the bag.

Leanna Halbrecht, the owner of Animations, identified an organization called 3-5-0 that outlines the impact of shopping locally. Flyers were produced and inserted into the bags that outlined the advantage to the community for shopping close to home.

The wheels were then set in motion to produce stickers and coupons, purchase shopping bags and recruit the needed help to put all of these pieces together.

Assembly lines were created and all involved took their turn stuffing and labeling the shopping bags. For the better part of a week, one could walk into the Berkshire Bank, Gabrieli Fine Art and Judaica, Sciarra Salon, Smokey Joes Barbeque or the Teaneck General Store and see the massive effort underway.

Children and grandchildren of shop owners and employees also helped assemble the promotional bags. The cohesive effort was impressive and all participants in the process were proud of their efforts.

Volunteers from the Teaneck General Store, including Eva Liebmann, Yvette Oppenheim and Yosifa Book, as well as Joe Godin from Smokey Joes and school volunteers coordinated the effort to deliver the bags, completing the project.

A few customers who stopped in for coffee at the Teaneck General Store even offered to help deliver bags when they learned about the ambitious project. Most refused remuneration and some, like YU student, Noam Tokayer, were happy to "just help out".

Several area schools were contacted and Torah Academy of Bergen County and Yavneh Academy appealed to students in this project to sort and deliver sticker clad and coupon filled bags. Joshi Hanfling, Joey Katz from TABC, and Talya Wimpfheimer, Ozzie Wimpfheimer and Ilan Wimpfheimer, from Yavneh, Gavi, Meira, AJ, Ben and Eitan Book, Danit Forman and Amitai Glicksman, of Yeshivat Noam, all helped to bring the project to fruition.

Yossie Markovik, co-owner of Ma'adan and former IRS forensic accountant, helped tabulate the final accounting for the project.

Finally the bags were delivered and the response was positive and enthusiastic.

The results were well beyond expectations. Excitement was generated, as well as sales and shoppers were seen carrying their bags until the last day of the promotion. Stores all reported a spike in activity.

The synergy, creativity, and the sense of community that was able to produce a very positive effort and result.

Between packing, delivering, and schlepping, all enjoyed the camaraderie and result that this initiative brought the merchants and residents together to try to bring business back the downtown area of Cedar Lane.